Stay on target

Last week’s episode of Black Lightning proved that the series can do outlandish comic book stories just as well as the more serious stuff. There was still plenty of that this week, but this episode works so much better by striking a balance between the two. Black Lightning continues his search for the kidnapped twin, despite Anissa’s warning that the Sanges are too dangerous for him to take on alone. He doesn’t listen, because Jefferson Pierce is exactly as stubborn as his daughters. Of course, it comes back to bite him. He gets jumped by a three Sange who knock him out almost immediately. It’s doesn’t reach the high standard of fight scenes this series usually traffics in, and to be fair, it probably wasn’t supposed to. Still, for a fight to incapacitate Black Lightning, it felt a little on the lame side.

He wakes up to find himself face-to-face with Looker, who immediately establishes herself as a villain that’ll be real fun to hate. As she taunts a tied-up, costume-less Jefferson, she starts talking about white pride out of nowhere. She brings up the false equivalency we’ve heard so many times, about how black and proud is OK, but white and proud is racist. Like centuries of history somehow escaped her notice. Jefferson says he’ll enjoy beating her, and she decides to kill him. Via electrocution. It goes exactly the way you think it does. The Sanges think Black Lightning’s powers come from his suit. They’re wrong. Jefferson plays dead long enough for them to turn the electricity off. He promptly thanks them for the recharge and beats the hell out of them. It’s so satisfying to watch, and the fight choreography definitely holds up its end of the bargain here.

Nafessa Williams as Thunder (Photo Credit: Annette Brown/The CW)

Back in costume, he grabs the baby and starts to deliver it back to its mother. He soon finds evidence that Looker is tracking the other twin, and heading toward the mother and Anissa as they speak. He drops the kid off with Henderson, which is a nice reminder that this show knows how to be funny too. This season has been a little light on the fight scenes that made the first so much fun, and this episode feels like it’s making up for that. The fight in the Sange house was a warm-up. Watching Thunder and Black Lightning team up against Looker and her goons is so much fun. It’s a fast, kinetic fight that ends with something I didn’t see coming. In the commotion, Looker is blasted backwards and impaled on a shelf. She was such a great, hateable villain, I didn’t expect her to go quite this soon. It was a satisfying end, though. One moment of triumph before the real depressing scene happens. Anaya returns to her parents to find her father burying her mother. I wish we got to see what happened, but finding out right as Anaya did made the scene so much more painful. And at the same time, uplifting when Anaya’s dad took hold of the babies, accepting them both. You really couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to this story.

The emotion doesn’t stop there either. While bringing the baby back Jefferson found one of Gambi’s trackers in the woods, still live. He immediately figures out the old man didn’t die, and we get another incredibly sweet scene. Jefferson goes to confront Gambi at his hotel room, and Gambi explains himself. He doesn’t know who tried to assassinate him, and until he finds out, it’s better if they think he’s dead. It’s safer for Jefferson’s family. Jefferson says Gambi is his family and that’s enough to melt my heart. It still feels cheap to bring him back so soon after he “died,” but this scene works well enough that I don’t care as much.

It wasn’t all comic book heroes vs. villains, either. This episode finally went somewhere with the Khalil and Jenn storyline. The training and therapy Jenn’s been going through looks like it’s paying off. She’s more in control of her powers than she was at the beginning of the season. Jenn’s growing to trust her teacher more too, confiding in her about Khalil and seeking her advice. If you’re a fan of the Khalil/Jenn relationship this is probably the episode you’ve been waiting for. China Anne McClain and Jordan Calloway have had amazing chemistry since episode one. The pair are just so sweet onscreen together, which has made Khalil’s fall under Tobias so hard to watch. Here, they get plenty of screen time. Khalil continues to seek Jenn’s advice, and she tells him to convince the reverend to leave town. It doesn’t go well.

First the reverend puts the gun in his face, because sometimes even God needs armed backup, I guess. Then, as Khalil leaves the church, he runs right into Tobias. For once though, he doesn’t fall back under his control. He does the smart thing and runs. He may have a bionic spine and poison darts, but we’ve already seen he’s no match for Tobias up close. Not to mention a whole host of his henchmen. Khalil then makes an even smarter move and calls Jenn for help. She shows up, more in control of her powers than we’ve ever seen her and saves his life. The rooftop flirting may still be my favorite moment between these two, but this is a close second.

The show even has an intriguing answer to the question of where they go from here. Jefferson and Lynn get home from their eventful night to find Jenn missing. Her therapist has an idea of where she might be, but like any good therapist, she’s keeping the details of her conversations with Jenn private. She instead tries to reassure the parents by telling them she’s probably with a boy. (Jefferson’s incredulous dad voice as he says, “a boy?!” was hilarious here, by the way.) She also cautions them to give Jenn some space, which… yeah, they really need to be better about. Jenn, she says, is the most powerful metahuman any of them have ever seen. If they push her away, there could be dangerous consequences. If only that information had gotten to them sooner. Jenn and Khalil close out the episode by getting in a car and driving away from Freeland, Tobias, their families and everything. Oh, and the Sange storyline might not be over yet either. As Anissa relaxes with her girlfriend to destress, Grace gets up to use the bathroom. When she looks in the mirror, something is moving under her skin. It looks a lot like that strange Sange material. What’s going on with her? You know the show’s going to make us wait. Why do you have to leave us like that, Black Ligthning?